1. Field of Invention
The present disclosure is generally related to oil such as engine and/or lubricant oil and, in particular, the analysis and use of dyed oils.
2. Description of the Related Art
Determination of the origin of oil leaks for engines, turbines and the like, can be a difficult problem whether the equipment is being newly-built, tested, repaired or rebuilt. The problem is exacerbated by the presence of build oil or assembly oil that is already on the outer Surface of the engine, so that it may be difficult to determine the source of the oil. The problem of phantom oil leaks, in particular, often results in unnecessary engine teardowns.
One remedy to the problem has been to add dye into engine oil during engine testing, so that detection of the dyed oil on the outside of the engine would indicate the presence of an oil leak. However, while this method may show, qualitatively, whether or not there is a leak, there are problems with this method. One problem with visual detection is that the dye is often mixed with oils of various brands and ages. These oils have colors varying from pale yellow to black brown (depending on the composition of the oil and the effects of age and wear), making the presence of a small amount of dye on the surface of the engine difficult to ascertain. This problem is exacerbated by the presence of assembly oil on the surface of the engine which may further dilute or shield the dye from observation. Visual methods to detect the dye are not effective due to darkening of oil with age and use.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method for determining the amount of dye present in dyed engine oils. There is a further need for such a method that can be utilized in distinguishing the origin of oil observed on the outer surface of an engine as being from engine oil or build oil. There is a further need for quantifying the amount of dye needed to be added to engine oil to bring the dye concentration back into the specified concentration range so that the oil may be used for subsequent engine testing.